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The Challenges of Rural ENT Practice

by Richard Quinn •

Scheduling days off, for any reason, requires planning, Dr. Duck said. Procedures that require follow-up shouldn’t be scheduled for a few days before you leave. Inform your patients that you’ll be out of town but available via pager or phone. Ensure coverage in your absence, using either a locum tenens physician or a stand-in from an affiliated practice. “Learn what procedures you can do so that people will be comfortable and safe in your absence,” Dr. Duck said. “And then you figure it out on your calendar, and then you do it that way.”

While the rigors of planning to take just a long weekend may seem like a challenge, rural physicians say they get used to the process. And, in the long run, the tradeoff is well worth the benefits that draw some otolaryngologists to rural practices in the first place. “I feel like I’m Marcus Welby, ENT, of Jackson Hole, Wyoming,” said Dr. Trott. “I’ve only been here for four years, but the good news is you know the governor, you know the mayor—you know everybody.”

Rural Health Care Facts

Rural Health Care Facts

The obstacles faced by health care providers and patients in rural areas are vastly different from those found in urban areas. Rural Americans face a unique combination of factors that create disparities in health care not found in urban areas:

  • Only about 10 percent of physicians practice in rural America, despite the fact that nearly one-fourth of the population lives in these areas.
  • Rural residents tend to be poorer. On average, per capita income is $7,417 lower than in urban areas, and rural Americans are more likely to live below the poverty line. The disparity in incomes is even greater for minorities living in rural areas. Nearly 24 percent of rural children live in poverty.
  • Medicare payments to rural physicians are dramatically smaller than those made to their urban counterparts for equivalent services.
  • Rural residents have greater difficulties finding transportation to reach health care providers, often traveling great distances to reach a doctor or hospital.

Source: www.ruralhealthweb.org